Training & Tournament Update

I finished the first round of the thematic tournament, going 10-0 in my group. The final game was definitely the hardest.

I'm still getting in my daily dose of tactics problems. Last night I spent a couple hours working with Joel Johnson on the ICC going over some material he is working on for a book.

I have identified the following as my biggest weaknesses to focus on at the moment:

Time Management (See Dan Heisman's 2 Move Triggers article)

Systematic Thought Process

Visualization & Analysis

Planning & Judgement

The time management problem is pretty much the by-product of the other 3. Once I have them in better shape and have better confidence in my analysis, the time management issue should be gone. The goal and purpose of my playing turn-based chess on chess.com is to fix 2-4. To work on 2 & 4 I am working through Silman's The Amateur's Mind. To work on #3 I have started to work through Kotov's Think Like a Grandmaster. That also helps with 2 & 4.

Hopefully I will be able to get one or two weekends in of otb chess this month, as I would still like to reach my goal of USCF 1600 by the end of the year even though I was inactive from July - September.